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Monday, 17 March 2014

Back Into The Abyss - Dark Souls 2 Review

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After what feels like decades, the much anticipated sequel
to From Software’s Dark Souls is finally upon us. Dark Souls 2 throws us back
into the brutal action and unforgiving necessity for learning that made the
first game so successful. A few drawbacks pull this game away from perfection,
but these are minor, and can even be overcome. Dark Souls 2 is an addictive
experience that will make you struggle to pull yourself away from it for any
extended period of time.

After an opening that feels a little slow in comparison to
that of the first Dark Souls, you are instantly given the freedom to explore
the land of Drangleic. You start off in Majula, the equivalent of the Firelink
Shrine or the Nexus. This area acts as your hub, and as well as being one of
the only places that you are completely safe, also offers easy access to
merchants, covenants, and the Emerald Herald, who gives and upgrades your Estus
Flask, and allows you to level up.

This is where the first issue comes in. For some reason the
ability to level up at bonfires has been removed, forcing you to head back to
Majula and speak to the Emerald Herald. This doesn’t really impact the game as
a whole, but it certainly gets tedious. Fortunately, there is a fast travel system available
straight away, allowing you to travel to any bonfire you have lit. This makes
traversing the huge world far easier, and trust me it is huge.

It’s here that Dark Souls 2 displays one of its most
impressive feats. The whole world, which is far bigger than that of Dark Souls,
is completely seamless. Some areas are blocked off to start with, but once you
have opened everywhere, it’s possible to move from one side of the world to
another without encountering a single loading screen along the way.

This is all the more impressive when you realize how
visually diverse the world is. Dark Souls 2 has some incredibly memorable
locations, and each looks great in their own way. One that springs to mind is a
forest shrouded in fog, obscuring anything further than a few steps away.
Anyone who has played a Souls title in the past will know that something scary
will be lurking in the mist, and this makes for one of the most gut-wrenchingly
tense moments I’ve experience in a video game.

Whilst the world is entirely new and fresh, the game itself
isn’t. If you’ve played a game in this series before, you will know full well
what to expect here. Advancing slowly, learning enemy locations, attack
patterns and weaknesses, and of course, dying. A lot. This isn’t a bad thing.
It’s worked great in the past and holds up the standard here. A few tweaked
mechanics - such as better controls for bows
– add a little to it, but if you weren’t a fan before, Dark Souls 2 won’t
change your mind.

The most notable difference comes in the form of the multiplayer.
You can still summon other players to help you, or invade them to steal their
souls, as well as the bloodstains and messages, but things have been changed up
a little. Summons now have timers on them, meaning you can’t just summon
someone then hang out in an area for a while farming things. Sure, it might add
a sense of urgency and increase the intensity of a multiplayer session, as your
partner could vanish at any time, but I personally enjoyed the relief at
summoning someone, knowing they could stay with me until I finished off the
area boss.

Also, you can now summon other players to an area, even when
the area boss has been killed. This offers help if you want to explore the area
more, or farm souls for a short while until the phantom is returned home.

Whilst Dark Souls 2 incorporates elements that make the game
easier, such as the summoning or the new systems that stops enemies from
respawning if you kill them enough times, there is one particular update that
ramps up the punishing difficulty to new levels. Dying not only strips you of
your souls and human status, it now also removes a small portion of your
maximum health. Similar to Demon’s Souls, it cuts off at 50%, and stays there
until you restore your humanity.

I found this to be a little unnecessary, as it just makes
any area that you’re struggling with even harder next time around, and for the
first time in Souls history, I felt like it crossed the line from strict, to
unfair. A balance of patience and skill can overcome this problem, but in a
game so heavily focused on trial and error, where you must continue to die and
try again, this felt particularly harsh – even for dark souls.

Dark Souls 2 is an amazing game. Visually striking, with
addictive gameplay and online multiplayer that still holds up brilliantly, the
elements that bring it down can be overlooked. My final criticism comes in the
form of one or two recycled bosses – one is actually the same boss as you face
in Dark Souls whilst some others are just reminiscent. However even these
sparked a feeling of familiarity and excitement at a link, rather than
repetition and boredom. From the get go, fans of the series will be happy with
this instalment, but it’s not going to change the minds of people who don’t
like it.